392: ‘Halos and Harps’, With Casey Liss

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode blends a long discussion of Casey’s new app Call Sheet with a year-in-review of Apple’s 2023, ultimately judging the year as a strong one. The hosts praise Call Sheet’s privacy, speed, and thoughtful features, then move through Apple’s uneven first half of the year, major WWDC announcements, the Vision Pro rollout, and fall hardware/software releases, concluding that Apple finished 2023 with momentum.

Main Topics: Call Sheet app launch and product philosophy: Casey explains Call Sheet as a respectful, fast, spoiler-aware replacement for IMDb, built around thoughtful user experience, privacy, and practical film/TV lookups. Apple’s 2023 year in review: The hosts assess Apple’s year overall, concluding it was thumbs-up quality, with a slow first half but a strong second half driven by WWDC, Vision Pro, iPhone 15, and M3 Macs. WWDC and Vision Pro: They discuss the M2 MacBook Air 15-inch, Mac Pro/Studio updates, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad, and the significance and uncertainty of Vision Pro as a new platform. iPhone 15, action button, and camera strategy: The conversation covers the iPhone 15 lineup, the action button’s utility, the move to USB-C, and the possibility of a future dedicated capture button. macOS, iPad, and Apple’s platform strategy: They revisit macOS naming traditions, the iPad’s improving pro credibility, and Apple’s gradual filling of hardware/software lineup gaps like large consumer laptops and iPad pro apps. Threads, Mastodon, and the social media landscape: A substantial tangent compares Threads, Mastodon, Twitter, and Meta’s engineering discipline, with Threads emerging as a credible post-Twitter destination. Apple Watch, HomePod, CarPlay, and other ecosystem updates: They briefly touch on watchOS 10, HomePod 2, CarPlay tensions with GM, and the broader importance of Apple filling out its product ecosystem.

Key Arguments: Call Sheet is intentionally built to be respectful of users: fast, ad-free, spoiler-aware, and better aligned with actual lookup behavior than IMDb. Call Sheet’s niche focus is a strength: it does not need a billion users to be successful; it only needs to be the best tool for discerning film/TV users. Apple’s 2023 was weak early but strong later: WWDC, Vision Pro, iPhone 15, and M3 Macs made the year feel like a thumbs-up overall. The 15-inch MacBook Air and Final Cut/Logic on iPad filled important lineup gaps, showing Apple taking the iPad and consumer laptop space more seriously. Vision Pro is expensive but could become compelling for travel, work, media, and privacy-sensitive use cases; the key question is whether it becomes a real platform or a niche product. Threads has become a serious social platform because Meta can ship quickly, iterate well, and play the long game, unlike Twitter’s decline under Musk. Apple’s camera team continues to set the bar, and the fact that iPhone-shot events and spatial video are possible reinforces the phone’s professional credibility.

Data Points: Call Sheet free trial searches: 20 searches - Casey says the app allows 20 free searches before subscription. Call Sheet trial period: 1 week - Subscribers get a week free after signing up. Call Sheet pricing: $9/year or $1/month - The standard subscription price is described as very reasonable. Optional higher support tier: $20 or $50/year - Users can pay more as a recurring tip-jar style option. Vision Pro starting price: $3,500 - Discussed as the opening price for Apple’s headset. Vision Pro production constraint: 2 million displays/year - A rumor suggests Sony can only supply enough displays for about a million headsets. CarPlay adoption among new car buyers: 80% - Mentioned as the approximate share of U.S. new car buyers who consider CarPlay a must-have. iPhone ownership in U.S.: 51% - Referenced to contrast with CarPlay’s appeal among new car buyers. Apple Watch usage history: 2014 - Casey notes he has kept his iPhone on silent since getting his first Apple Watch in 2014. ATP anniversary: 10 years - The hosts mention ATP’s 10-year milestone in March. Casey’s MacBook Pro memory: 64 GB - He describes his previous M1 Max MacBook Pro and current preference for 64 GB RAM. Casey’s storage on current MacBook Pro: 8 TB - He notes he chose 8 TB on his current machine. M3 review unit memory: 120 GB - He says Apple sent him a maxed-out M3 MacBook Pro with 120 GB of unified memory. Video format for spatial video: 1080p, 30 fps - He notes current spatial video is limited compared with future possibilities.

Pivotal Quotes: "Call Sheet in short is my take on how to search for actors, directors, movies, TV shows, stuff like that." — Casey: He defines the app’s purpose during the self-promotion segment. "I would give it a thumbs up for the year." — Speaker 2: Overall assessment of Apple’s 2023 performance. "if I had to do like a lecture on interface, user interface design, I could imagine doing an entire lecture just on the interface design of the iPhone camera app." — Speaker 2: A compliment to Apple’s camera UI and the complexity hidden behind its simplicity.

Implications: Call Sheet shows there is room for high-quality niche indie apps. Apple’s 2023 suggests a mature platform company still capable of meaningful product momentum, while Vision Pro and Threads hint at major shifts in how people compute and communicate.